BILL NUMBER: AB 64	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   798
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 7, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JULY 2, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 28, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 22, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 3, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JANUARY 28, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ducheny
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Bates, Baugh, Campbell, Jackson,
Knox, Kuehl, Romero, and Washington)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Alpert, McPherson, Morrow, and O'Connell)

                        DECEMBER 7, 1998

   An act to add Article 2.8 (commencing with Section 69.5) to
Chapter 2 of Division 1 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, relating
to coastal resources.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 64, Ducheny.  Public beach restoration.
   Under existing law, the Department of Boating and Waterways has
powers and duties pertaining to beach erosion control, beach
stabilization, and beach repair and restoration.
   This bill would establish the California Public Beach Restoration
Program, to be administered by the department, for specified public
beach enhancement purposes.
   The bill would require the department and the State Coastal
Conservancy to jointly prepare and submit to the Legislature, not
later than January 1, 2002, a report detailing the restoration,
nourishment, and enhancement activities undertaken through the
program, evaluating the need for public beach restoration projects,
the effectiveness of the program in addressing that need, and ways to
increase natural sediment.
   The bill would create the Public Beach Restoration Fund in the
State Treasury and would provide that moneys in the fund are
available for expenditure by the department for the purposes of the
bill.  The bill would become operative only to the extent that funds
are appropriated in the annual Budget Act for the purposes of the
bill.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) The state's beaches provide California with an enriched
quality of life, worldwide recognition, and unparalleled tourist
opportunities for economic enhancement.
   (b) The state's beaches are California's most popular recreational
destination with over 550 million visitors in 1995, 85 percent of
whom were noncoastal residents.
   (c) Tourism is the third largest industry in the state; the state'
s beaches provide the attraction and recreational infrastructure that
drives a major portion of that industry.
   (d) Beach-induced recreation and tourism produce over ten billion
six hundred million dollars ($10,600,000,000) in direct spending,
seventeen billion dollars ($17,000,000,000) in indirect and induced
spending, support over 500,000 jobs, and generate over one billion
dollars ($1,000,000,000) in state taxes.
   (e) Many state beaches are in an advanced state of erosion and are
disappearing because of human-induced impacts produced by inland
development and watershed modifications, such as concrete channels,
flood control structures, and water supply dams.  The health of the
state's beaches relies upon a steady flow of sand from watersheds via
rivers and streams that are now greatly modified and dammed.
   (f) The state's beaches provide a natural habitat for many
species, some of which are on the threatened or endangered list, such
as the least tern and the snowy plover.
   (g) Beaches provide exceptional, low-cost recreational
opportunities for all social-economic levels especially in densely
populated areas that possess limited water recreation opportunities.

   (h) A dedicated state-funding source will greatly enhance our
ability to partner and qualify for federal matching funds through the
United States Army Corps of Engineers' Shore Protection Program.
   (i) The Public Research Institute at San Francisco State
University has studied beach nourishment needs along the California
coast and found a statewide need for one hundred thirty-two million
dollars ($132,000,000) in one-time project costs with annualized
maintenance costs of seventeen million six hundred thousand dollars
($17,600,000).
  SEC. 2.  Article 2.8 (commencing with Section 69.5) is added to
Chapter 2 of Division 1 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, to read:


      Article 2.8.  California Public Beach Restoration Act

   69.5.  This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the
California Public Beach Restoration Act.
   69.6.  (a) The California Public Beach Restoration Program is
hereby established, to be administered by the department for all of
the following purposes:
   (1) The restoration, enhancement, and nourishment of public
beaches, as determined to be necessary by the department, through the
cost-effective engineered placement of sand on the beach or in the
nearshore environment.
   (2) The planning, design, and permitting of the beach restoration,
nourishment, or enhancement projects specified in paragraph (1),
which shall not exceed 15 percent of the total project cost.
   (3) The preparation of studies to inventory, characterize, and
assess the physical and biological resources of the ocean, and
nearshore, shoreline, and inland areas that are determined by the
department to be necessary to construct the projects specified in
paragraph (1) that are environmentally and economically sound.  The
cost of the studies shall not exceed 5 percent of the annual program
funding.
   (4) The funding of 100 percent of the nonfederal project
construction cost for restoration, nourishment, or enhancement of
coastal state parks and state beaches with placement of sand on the
beach or in the nearshore.
   (5) The funding of 85 percent of the nonfederal project cost for
restoration, nourishment, or enhancement of nonstate public beaches
with placement of sand on the beach or in the nearshore, with a 15
percent match from the local sponsors, provided as funds or in-kind
services.
   (6) The active pursuit and promotion of federal and local
partnerships to cost-share beach restoration, nourishment, or
enhancement projects specified in paragraph (1) that have significant
state benefits.
   (b) Prior to funding any project under this section, the
department shall develop guidelines that include application
requirements and criteria for evaluating a project.  The guidelines
shall be consistent with the Resources Agency's policies for
shoreline erosion protection.  Only beaches that are in public
ownership and that are open and accessible to the public are eligible
for funding under this section.
   69.8.  Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, the
department, and the State Coastal Conservancy, not later than January
1, 2002, shall jointly prepare and submit to the Legislature a
report that does all of the following:
   (a) Details the restoration, nourishment, and enhancement
activities undertaken through this program.
   (b) Discusses and evaluates the need for continued public beach
restoration projects.
   (c) Reports on the effectiveness of the program in addressing that
need.
   (d) Discusses ways to increase natural sediment supply in order to
decrease the need to nourish the state's beaches, including, but not
limited to, an analysis of specific locations where structures might
be removed or modified.
   69.9.  (a) The Public Beach Restoration Fund is hereby created in
the State Treasury.   The moneys in the fund shall be available for
expenditure by the department only for the purposes of the California
Public Beach Restoration Program established pursuant to this
article.
   (b) Of the moneys in the fund, 60 percent shall be available for
allocation by the department to projects south of the point at which
the Pacific Ocean meets the border between the County of San Luis
Obispo and the County of Monterey and 40 percent shall be available
for allocation to projects located north of that point.
  SEC. 3.  This act shall become operative only to the extent that
funds are appropriated in the annual Budget Act for the purposes of
this act.
